Are interest rates too low? ("Handelsblatt")

In the opinion of many economists, the monetary policy of the European Central Bank (ECB) is too expansionary. Also interest rates rules such as the Taylor rule or the rule developed by Athanasios Orphanides and Volker Wieland indicate that interest rates in the euro area should be higher.

"The recommendations by the Taylor rule send strong warnings", Wieland said in an interview with the financial daily "Handelsblatt". According to Wieland, the ECB should have raised interest rates quite a while ago. The argument that there were still 0.3 or 0.4 percentage points missing until interest rates had reached the inflation target does not apply, in his view. Wieland said that the ECB should have reacted in a symmetric way in order to avoid excessive reactions later as there were already significant risks for financial stability in the housing sector and in banks' balance sheets.

Handelsblatt: "Die Euro-Krise ist vorbei - doch die EZB verweigert die Zinserhöhung"